Love and Nargles
by Phoebe Caulfield 16
Summary: ""Nargles?" Rolf asked, mystified, "I've never heard of them." Rolf and Luna meet at a Quibbler convention for rare and endangered creatures, and decide to travel the world together, with many adventures along the way.
1. Strange Reunions and Stubborn Frogs

**A/N; Sadly, I'm not JK Rowling, but if I was, this is how Luna and Rolf's story would've gone. **

The crumbling Scottish farm that Rolf Scamander called home might have been past its glory days, but in the bumbling nineteen-year-old's eyes it was the perfect place to live, complete with ponds teeming with microscopic life, forests full of the most exciting creatures, if you knew where to look, and sprawling open grounds that went on for miles, ideal for training his winged horses or flying a Hippogriff. Above all, it was a quiet, almost solitary place, and that suited Rolf and his only living family member down to the ground.

And in a bedroom at the top of the house, with drawings pasted all over the walls, the tall, gangly, spotty, blue-eyed young man was having an argument with his best friend in the world.

"Oh, come on Blinky." Rolf Scamander sighed. The green frog flailed desperately in his grip, straining with all its might to get away from the side pocket of the worn leather satchel it was being forced into.

"No, no, I know you don't like it, but you need to – OI!" he cried, as the frog squeezed out of his master's hands and leapt across the room with such huge force, especially for a tiny animal, that Rolf could've sworn he had been fired from a cannon ball. Blinky was now perched on top of Rolf's bookcase, sending small clouds of dust into the air, courtesy of his excited hops on Rolf's old books. He settled down on a particularly musty volume, on his face the closest expression to a smirk that a frog could ever have.

"Fine." Rolf muttered, turning away and filling his satchel with notebooks, some full and some empty, pens and quills, his toothbrush, a towel, a net, an old compass, a battered travelling kettle and a diary almost as worn as the satchel. He picked up his wallet and shook it, hearing a satisfying jingling sound, before shoving that in the bag as well. Last of all, he put his hand at the back of his desk draw, poking around a bit before coming across his most prized possesion, apart from the frog currently choking in the mass of dust behind him.

"Blinks, why don't you just get down?" Rolf sighed, retrieving his hand from the back of the drawer, stroking the cover of the object he was holding fondly.

In his hands, Rolf held the orignal copy of his grandfather's masterpiece. He traced the words on the cover gently; Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Below them lay the name; Newt Scamander. Even though it had been ten years since Grandad Newt, as Rolf had called him, had died and bequeathed him the book, Rolf couldn't help feeling a rush of pride welling up in his chest every time he took the book out. He opened the book, and read the handwritten note on the inside cover that he had read a million times before.

_To Rolf_

_I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed creating it._

_Grandad Newt_

_P.S Never leave home without a kettle. Or your toothbrush._

Rolf grinned, and placed the book inside his satchel with his other things. He swung the bag over his shoulder and picked up his wand. He headed to the door, before looking behind him at the frog sitting pensively on the bookcase.

"Blinks, I'm going now. Are you going to sit there all weekend or stop being a prat and come with me?"

Blinky remained stubborn for almost a minute, whilst Rolf began to close the door. Just when there was only a crack remaing between the door and the frame, Blinky made two hops across the room at the speed of light, landing on Rolf's shoulder.

"I thought so." Rolf laughed, and they made their way downstairs together.

* * *

"Hey, Alfie." Rolf called, seeing his uncle with his feet up on the table, eating buttery toast and reading The Quibbler. "I thought you would've left by now. Don't want to keep Lovegood waiting, do you?"

His uncle looked up and smiled briefly, before returning to his magazine.

"It took a while to get the Hippogriffs out this morning. It's near foaling time for some of the girls." he explained.

"They'll be okay for the weekend though, won't they?" he asked.

"Sure, sure, don't worry about that for the moment." Alfie reassured him, "I'll be off in soon." he said, lifting his feet off the table, dropping his plate into the sink.

"Shouldn't you have left already? It takes six hours to fly from Scotland to England, and Ottery St Catchpole is right in the south. We're way up north, Crianlarich is the middle of nowhere."

"Lovegood won't mind. He was never one for keeping good time," Alfie laughed affectionately, his eyes taking on a misty look.

"You miss him, don't you?" Rolf smiled.

"He's a difficult person not to miss. We've kept in touch, but I think about those days." Alfie said reminiscently.

Rolf cast his eyes to the table, trying to remember the days at least eleven years ago, when at eight years old, he had sat on the Lovegood's kitchen floor listening to his father's, his uncle's and Xeno (or "Uncle", as Rolf had usually called him) Lovegood's stories about the time when they were young naturalists together, travelling Africa in search of new animals to document and study.

Mr Lovegood's wife had also been there as well, he remembered. And they had had a daughter, six-years-old, what had her name been? Laura? He recalled her being adventurous and excited, dragging him all around the house, showing him every nook and cranny of her home.

He had last been there when he was eight, nearly nine. The Laura girl had been almost seven when he last saw her. He wondered how she had changed. He wondered whether she still sat by the pond every night, catching tadpoles and watching them grow into frogs. He knew he still did.

And now, over a decade later he was going back again. The Quibbler was holding a convention on endangered and exotic animals, including Xenophilius's personal favorite project, the study of the Crumple-Horned-Snorkack. And as the country's leading breeders of Hippogriffs and Winged Horses, including Thestrals, Alfie and Rolf had been invited as guest experts.

"See you this evening, kid." Alfie said cheerfully, snapping Rolf out of his childhood memories. He clapped his nephew on the shoulder.

"I'm not a kid, Alf. I'm nineteen." Rolf retorted.

"Trust me, Rolf, you're still a kid." Alfie called behind his shoulder, swinging the door shut after him.

Rolf scowled at the man's retreating back, and helped himself to a large plate of scrambled eggs.

* * *

"Okay, Blinks, now, in the bag." Rolf said firmly.

The frog gave him a look reminiscent of a martyr being led to sacrifice, and reluctantly hopped in the bag's side pocket. Rolf smiled triumphantly and untied the grey Granian horse he had brought in from the field. He hung his bag back on his shoulder and vaulted over the winged horse's back.

"C'mon, Lazylegs, girl." Rolf yelled, booting the mare in her sides. She gave a sudden, shocked neigh, kicked up her back legs and soared into the sky, her wings slapping against Rolf's legs.

Rolf leaned forward on her neck, urging the girl on. He felt something small land on his shoulder, and realised Blinky had escaped from the bag. He chortled, and listened to the frog's terrified noises as he found out that a wind current was indeed extremely strong. A minute later, the frog had dived to safety into Rolf's pocket.

Lazylegs began to pick up a more even speed, and Rolf, when he was satisfied that it was safe to let go, spread his arms out, locked his hands behind his head and let his mind wander. What would it be like, meeting the Lovegood family again after eleven years? Well, most of the Lovegood family, he had found out about the mother's fatal accident after coming into the kitchen at midnight to find his uncle slumped over the table, a letter in one hand and a half-empty bottle of whisky in the other. He felt sorry for the girl, but still envied her for having at least had nine years with a mother.

But what would meeting old friends be like? He hadn't seen the Lovegood's in the decade since his father had died, would that be hanging between them? He had always had difficulty around people, naturally shy by nature, and educated on his home farm by his uncle, where he had learned less History of Magic and more about the possible existence of the Blibbering Humdinger, and now knew everything the Scamander family had ever written about animals, both discovered and undiscovered. Very useful to Rolf. But the one thing he had never been able to understand a thing about was social interactions. People were far harder to understand than animals, as he had discovered in his nineteen years. And for this reason, a small part of Rolf was absolutely terrified of meeting the Lovegoods again.

* * *

Luna Lovegood leaned out of the window, staring into the distance as if she were hoping Hogwarts would suddenly come back into view, despite the fact they had been on the train for over three hours.

"Hasn't this been a beautiful year?" she said dreamily. Her closest friend smiled, and came to the window to lean out beside her, her long red hair rippling in the wind.

"Not quite...beautiful..." Ginny Weasley began, "Voldemort's been gone for a year now, and the world's still a mess. We had students coming in throughout the whole year and all the teachers had to double up for one another and that sort..." she trailed off, before collecting herself and starting again. "And everyone...it's still in everyone's minds. Everyone has demons to recover from."

Luna turned to her friend, her eyes taking on that same wide, earnest gleam that they always had when she was attempting to explain something that seemed perfectly natural to her.

"But that's what I mean," she enthused, "Everyone still has to recover from something and everyone's lost someone and they all came to do it together. Everyone came to Hogwarts to be with their friends. Everyone still cares about knowledge and learning." Luna said excitedly, "When you think about that, this year has been rather beautiful, hasn't it?"

Hearing Luna's speech had suddenly filled Ginny's heart more than anything had in the past few months. A wide smile spread out on her face. As usual her best friend's eccentric observations had far more logic and wisdom in them than she would ever expect. And she was absolutely right. It was strange how the most terrible event she had ever lived through had been the cause of the most beautiful thing in her life.

The two young women gazed out of the window in silence for a few minutes, before Luna broke the silence again.

"Are you and Harry back together for good now?" she asked abruptly. Ginny was taken aback, most people rarely asked so bluntly about her relationship with the current hero of the wizarding world. But Luna Lovegood was certainly not most people.

"I think so," she said hesitantly.

"Have you told each other that you love one another?" Luna asked again, just as abruptly.

"Ye-_es_, but Harry, well he's a guy, and like most guys, every signal goes right over his head. He's completely oblivious to something unless it's tattooed on his arm and shoved in his face." she finished, slightly irritably.

Luna nodded wisely, as though tattooing instructions on guy's bodies was a daily routine, although for the life of her, Ginny could not remember Luna ever having anything beyond a purely platonic relationship with any of the men in her life. She had sometimes thought that there might be something between her and Neville, or perhaps with Dean Thomas, but Luna had only ever thought of them as close friends.

Ginny was about to ask Luna about her relationships, when the quiet atmosphere was interrupted by the door being flung open and a short witch with cropped purple hair and exhibiting so much energy that Ginny thought she might bounce right through the roof of the train came clattering in; another of Ginny and Luna's friends, Demelza Robins.

"Hi guys! How're you feeling? Isn't it exciting, leaving school? But it's terrifying too, isn't it?" Demelza prattled on, not looking the least bit terrified. "We'll all see each other again, won't we? We can write to each other and meet up in Hogsmeade, can't we?" Demelza looked at them expectantly, and Ginny began to suspect that Demelza had gotten hold of some of the suspicous smelling potions at last night's graduation party.

Luna said, in such a sincere and pleasant voice that it wouldn't have sounded out of place in a formal tea party, "Of course we can, Demelza. Would you like to come Nargle catching with me sometime? It's easy if you know what to do, and it happens to be excellent exercise."

Whatever was in those potions must have been a ridiculously powerful substance, Ginny thought, as Demelza flung her arms around Luna, whilst Luna patted Demelza awkwardly on the back. She liked Demelza a lot for her cheerful attitude and skills on the Quidditch pitch, but her dormmate could be annoyingly conventional. It would have had to be have been an influential drug coupled with a large amount of alcohol to give Demelza Robins the impulse to suddenly dye her hair purple that very night, and then happily accept an offer of Nargle hunting from Luna Lovegood.

The train's sudden honking of its horn distracted Ginny from her thoughts, as she realised that the Hogwarts Express had arrived at the station. Demelza gave an excited whoop, then hugged Ginny and Luna before disappearing, quick as a flash, out the door and racing down the corridors.

"I do like Demelza's new hair." Luna remarked absentmindedly, "And it's lovely to see that she's getting interested in unusual creatures. Perhaps I should try and find out what was in those potions yesterday. It would be a nice free gift to go on the cover of the next Quibbler issue." she mused.

Ginny couldn't help laughing.

"Some people would definitely like it, Luna. But it probably wasn't quite, well, legal." she coughed. Luna appeared not to have registered what she had said, and began to pull their bags down from the rack.

"Did you say something?" Luna inquired politely, and Ginny shook her head and smiled.

"Never mind." The two of them began to walk down the fast emptying corridor, and Ginny remembered what she had been planning to ask her earlier.

"Are you sure you don't want to come over to the Burrow? Harry and Hermione'll be there too, and everyone would love to see you again. Charlie's dying to have another conversation about your theories of the evolution of dragons."

"No, I can't," Luna said seriously, "The Quibbler's holding a convention at home. It's about rare and endangered species, and some of the world's top experts on the Crumple-Horned-Snorkack will be there. So you see it's a very important date, and I couldn't miss it for anything."

Ginny grinned again as they walked down the steps of the Hogwarts Express for the last time. They had barely reached the ground when a tangle of red hair appeared out of nowhere and jumped on top of them, tackling them both to the ground.

"Oi! Ronald Weasley, geroff of me!" Ginny yelled, managing to pull her wand out of her pocket and brandish it in her favorite brother's face. Ron got up, his expression one of a hangdog puppy, and stuck two large hands out to help them up.

"I was just enthusiastic." Ron said sheepishly, "Hey, Luna, how you doing?"

"Beautifully." Luna beamed.

"Ron Weasley, what was that for?" Molly Weasley hurried towards them, hugging Ginny and kissing Luna on the cheek, before saying, "It's lovely to see you again, dear. I don't suppose Ginny told you we'd love to have you for dinner this evening."

"Oh, she did." Luna said brightly, "I'd love to come to your house, but I have a special party to set up with Daddy."

"It's a Quibbler-Crumple-Horned-Snorkack convention." Ginny interjected quickly. Luna did not hear this, as she noticed the unmistakeable candyfloss hair of her father sticking out from the crowd, making his way towards her. She grabbed her bags and turned to the Weasleys.

"See you soon, Ginny." she said, hugging her friend, "And you Ron. Perhaps _we_ could meet up and all go Nargle hunting together?"

"Nargle hunting?" Ron's face went blank.

"Apparently it's excellent exercise." Ginny explained, after Luna had dived into the crowd and began to weave her way to her father.

"Exercise?" Ron looked mortified, "Forget it then."

* * *

"No, Daddy, we should serve the Gurdyroot juice as the guest arrive. It would get everyone more in the mood." Luna said matter-of-factly, taking the tray from her father.

"And the food?" Xenophilius enquired, currently levitating on a battered table above the garden.

"Let's serve it in the garden. Some people will be very nervous and Plimply pie is wonderful for the stomach." Luna decided.

"Too true, too true." Xenophilius murmured wisely.

The father and daughter worked steadily for the next few hours, Luna chattering about her school year, and the surprising amount of people who now wanted to be friends with her.

Finally, when Luna had stuck up a sign saying;

**You're welcome here as long as you don't steal the Dirigible Plums. Apart from that, have a good time.**

Their work was done, and a few minutes later, assortments of witches and wizards began to appear in their street, filing in through the narrow gate, several tripping over the Dirigible Plum bushes and causing them to burst. They sent dark purple splashes flying over their guests heads, and for some reason turned bright green as they came into contact with people's clothes. Luna frowned. That meant that they were at their ripest and perfect for eating. Beside her, Xenophilius sighed and fluttered his arms.

It was a diverse collection of people that were now congregating in the garden. A group of five wizards were swigging Gurdyroot juice, their multicoloured robes flapping around their feet. Two witches with snakes draped round their shoulders chatted happily with a wizard whose hair was coiled over his head, a purple toad balanced on top. Xenophilius was at the centre of attention, surrounded by women dressed in bright purple robes and orange sandals. Luna stood in animated conversation and serving Plimply pie to a short, plump man with a hat that squawked like a parrot everytime he finished speaking.

"I like your hat." she told him, "I had one just like it, except it had a lion that roared whenever my friend's Quidditch team scored a goal." Luna explained.

* * *

Alfred Scamander tethered his Hippogriff to a post outside the familiar rook-shaped house, a wave of nostalgia rushing over him. He smiled at the sign ahead of him.

"Xeno!" he called, striding into the crowd, spotting his old friend.

Xenophilius started at the familiar voice, before catching sight of the broad, bearded Scotsman and flung his arms up in the air, elbowing several confused witches in the face.

Alfie marched up to Xenophilius. The two men stared at each other for a brief second. Alfie clapped a hand on Xenophilius's shoulder. Then, a moment later, Xenophilius had pulled Alfie into a mighty bear hug, the two of them howling with laughter and whooping like young men. The party guests stared at them in mild bemusement, but then all of them were used to puzzling experiences in their everyday lives, and they soon got back to chattering about Hinky Punks and Horklumps.

"Alfie, Alfie, Alfie." Xenophilius said heartily, "Come and meet Luna. Well, meet her again, she never forgets a face."

Luna, that had been the name! Alfie realised. That had been driving him and Rolf mad over the past few weeks. Xenophilius carried on talking.

"Just got home from Hogwarts today, fought in the war last year, I couldn't be prouder of her." Xenophilius beamed, as he led Alfie to a girl chatting to a man wearing a hat with a parrot squawking happily.

* * *

"Woohoo!" Rolf yelled, as Lazylegs soared across the sky, looping upside down and in and out of the clouds. He pulled her into a dive, faster, faster, faster, and then...

Yes! A second, just a second before they were set to hit the ground, he pulled the girl sharply upwards - she must be as confused as hell, he thought - the two of them spiraling back into the sky. He laughed, and found her couldn't stop - now this was living, really living - the mare seemed to think so too, she was shaking her head back and whinnying loudly. He buried his face in her mane, patting her neck vigorously.

"Nice one, Lazy," he murmured, lifting himself off her neck and scanning the small village below. They had been flying several hours now and Rolf was pretty sure that they were now above the town of Ottery St Catchpole. He slowed his horse down.

"The house's shaped like a rook." he said, partly to himself, partly to Lazylegs and partly to Blinky, who had crawled out of his pocket and had his eyes bulging halfway out of their sockets.

Rolf let Lazylegs swoop along the sky, occasionally swerving to avoid flocks of birds, when he saw it.

A towering, black building, shaped like a chess-piece spiraled upwards in the near distance.

A lump began to rise in Rolf's throat. A tingling feeling spread out in his mouth. A single thought raced through his mind; _I can't do this, I can't do this, Ican'tdothis, Ican'tdothis._

He shook his head and attempted to clear his head. What was the worst that could happen? Why would there be any reason for the Lovegood's, or any of their guests, to reject him? To kick him out? Would he stick out, would they think he was different?

His breath was coming, faster and faster, far faster than when he had been trying a Wronski Feint on horseback. He willed himself to calm down, and began to think; _Breathe, breathe. Relax. Relax. Nothing will happen._

He filled his lungs one last time, one long intake of cool, calm air. He kicked his horse on. One almighty kick.

Lazylegs bolted across the sky, and as experienced a rider as Rolf was, he still lost his balance and was forced to yank hold of her mane to stop him from falling. She carried on racing, speeding toward the tower - Oh, God, no - she was closer, closer, closer -

CRASH! The mare went head first into a window and let out a terrified whinny. Glass rained all around him - Lazylegs flapped her wings uselessly, spinning on the spot - if she didn't regain control they would probably plummet to the ground.

"C'mon, Lazy." Rolf urged hopelessly, "I know you can do this."

The horse was petrified, she was neighing loudly at the now gathering crowd below them.

"Lazy." Rolf said hoarsely, as he tried to push her into a dive, _just get her on the ground_, he thought.

Lazylegs shrieked again at the movement - with a sinking heart, Rolf realised that his fight was lost - and she began to hurtle to the ground.

"Lazy, Lazy, Lazy." Rolf managed to whisper in her ear, in as soothing tone as he could muster, in the few seconds before they hit the ground.

* * *

Lights were dancing in his eyes, but he could just about make out someone leaning over him. He blinked furiously, trying to focus his sight.

"Aww" he gurgled, "Wuzzgoinon?"

"Son? Son?" Alfie's familiar voice was the first thing he heard, as his uncle's face came into view, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." he groaned, attempting to lift his head up, before letting out a small moan of pain, "My head..." he whimpered.

"Does he need a Healer?" an anxious voice came, followed by several loud squawks. Rolf screwed up his eyes. What had just happened? he thought, as another voice joined them.

"He'll be fine."

The voice was quiet and dreamy, but cool and confident, and for some reason, Rolf felt strangely relaxed after he had heard it. Besides, it was certainly the best news he'd had all day.

"Lazylegs..." he croaked.

"Is that your horse's name?" the voice asked again, "It's very original. But she'll be fine too, I've just fed her some Plimply pie to calm her down. And don't worry about the window, I've been wanting to get rid of that for ages. I prefer it when wind rushes into your room at night, it's much nicer, don't you think?"

"Errr..." Rolf stuttered. What window?

"Have you forgotten everything that happened?" the voice asked, "I'm not surprised, you fell right on your head. Would you like to come with me? I can clean all that blood off you, and perhaps you could do with some Plimply pie as well."

"Errr..." Rolf stuttered again, but he had now regained enough consciousness to mentally scold himself _Nice one, Scamander, they're going to think your a right tongue tied idiot now_.

But he had no more time for such reprimands as a slim white hand came into view, and with surprising strength, pulled him to his feet.

He blinked again, and his sight focussed on a young woman standing in front of him, holding his hand.

_Holding his hand_.

She had long, almost waist-length, dirty blonde hair, wide blue eyes, a rather odd necklace, and was smiling one of the most dazzling smiles Rolf had ever seen.

"Hello," she said, "I'm Luna Lovegood."

**A/N; Sooo, whad'ya think so far? Good? Great? Terrible? Please leave reviews so I can get better!**


	2. Of Ponds And Paintings

Rolf sat on a bench, massaging his sore head. Lazylegs stood over him, nuzzling at his shoulder, whilst he rubbed her neck absentmindedly.

"Had a bit of a shock there, didn't we?" he crooned at her, "But you'll be okay, won't you? Course you will, good girl, gooood girl."

Rubbing the bruise on his head again, he let his mind spiral into a haze. Still groggy from his fall earlier, he wasn't quite sure whether all this was happening; he had crashed into his host's house, fallen from twenty-feet in the air, traumatised his horse and been rescued by a girl who did not seem to care in the slightest that he had nearly wrecked her party and had instead gone to get him some food.

Food. That single word currently made Luna Lovegood a goddess in his eyes. And here she was now, weaving through the crowd, carrying a high-stacked plate.

"Here you go." Luna said, holding out a plate filled with a pie that was leaping all over the plate. Rolf took it gingerly. "It's okay, it usually calms down after you've started eating it." she told him, "But it's very fresh, and the fresher ones tend to have a lot more life in them than ones that have been stored."

Rolf hesitated for a moment, but his roaring stomach was getting too loud to ignore, so he dived in and began stuffing his face.

"Fanks." he mumbled, a red tinge creeping up his face.

"That's all right. It's delicious, isn't it?"

"Mmph."

Luna was patting Lazylegs, letting Rolf finish the pie before sitting down next to him and handing him a wet cloth.

"The cuts will all disappear after you've dabbed yourself with it." she explained, "Would you like me to do it?"

She did not notice Rolf's awkward look and carried on;

"I know where they are, you see. It might be annoying rubbing it all over yourself and still being covered in blood. Although you might find that you'll be healing things that you just haven't noticed are injured." she mused, "That could be useful."

"Okay." Rolf said, taking the cloth from her and wiping it over his face. "Er, how long was I out for? I didn't, like, wreck the party or anything, did I?"

"Oh yes, everyone was completely distracted. I was having a very interesting conversation about talking hats at the time as well." Luna took a sip of her drink. Rolf fiddled with his pockets, and suddenly sat up, on the alert.

"My bag, what happened to my stuff? And my frog?" he jumped up, scanning the area around him.

"Oh, your bag's here." Luna said, looking up curiously, "I didn't know you had a frog."

"Yeah, Blinky... what's happened to him? Seriously, that frog's mental, he could be burning the place down or something, he really could..."

"Perhaps it's the frog over there." Luna suggested placidly, pointing past Rolf. He swung round, eyes wide.

A cake stood in pride of place in the middle of the table; giant, green and three tiered, with the words inscribed "**Save The Crumple Horned Snorkack**". Well, they had a few minutes ago. It now read "**Sav he Crum Hored Sork**", not least because Blinky was perched on the top tier, nibbling away to his heart's content.

"Oh damn... Blinky! Blinky, don't eat that! I'm sure cakes are poisonous to frogs!"

The frog heard his voice and leapt into action. He vaulted off the cake and onto some unsuspecting wizard's shoulder. Rolf ran after him, pushing his way through the crowds - typical Blinky, he thought to himself. Glancing behind, he saw Luna coming after him.

He looked back at the wizard – in the second he'd looked away, he'd lost Blinky, great, just great. There were no frogs crouched on top of wizards hats, he wouldn't be swimming in anyone's Plimply soup, would he?

_Course he would, it's Blinky, the most insane and irritating frog ever known to man, _he sighed, _That's it, if I ever go to a party again, Blinky is not coming. He can just stay at the farm and sulk._

He was drawn out of his thoughts by something small, wet and green landing on his shoulder. He jerked his head sideways.

"Blinky!" he cried, but the frog, trademark smirk on his face, jumped off his shoulder and bounded into the Lovegood's nearby lake.

Rolf, who had, all his life, lacked any kind of common sense, threw reason to the wind and leapt after his frog into the pond. Blinky sat behind a clump of reeds, watching in amusement at his master splashing in the pond. A minute later, Luna Lovegood had joined him.

"What was that for?" Rolf said in confusion, when Luna had dived into the pond after him. She shrugged.

"Well, we could have just caught him with a Summoning Charm, but I found this a lot more fun." Luna smiled. "Shall we just sit here for a while?"

Rolf considered this. He was already soaked, his head still ached, but Blinky and Luna both seemed to be having a good time. Why not?

"Okay, well, I guess you should probably meet Blinky. Blinky, this is Luna, who saved me from the crash when you jumped ship."

"Hello, Blinky. I have to say, Rolf, you come up with very interesting names."

"Thanks," Rolf blushed.

The two settled back next to each other on the edge of the pond, their jeans soaking wet, leaning their arms out on the sides. Blinky watched them curiously.

"I remember you." Luna stated, "Your dad and Daddy used to be friends. I'm sorry that he died."

"That's okay," Rolf mumbled, "It was a long time ago."

"How did he die?"

"Riding accident. He was breaking in a new horse and, well, it spooked. It saw one of those Muggle things - armpains? He fell." he shrugged, in an attempt at looking noncommittal.

"My mum died nine years ago. She was experimenting - mixing some potions together and trying out her own spells on them. It didn't work, there was a big explosion. She died straight away." Luna shrugged as well, but Rolf saw no emotion in her face.

"Oh."

He decided not to pursue the subject. He wouldn't want to talk about his parents deaths' with someone who was more or less a total stranger either.

Luna seemed to have forgotten what they had been talking about just a minute ago. Her large blue eyes drifted around the party in front of her, but she was didn't seem to be taking any of it in. Rolf cast around for another topic.

"So, the Quibbler. Your dad puts together most of the articles, right? Do you help with that?"

"Of course I do." Luna beamed, "I'm especially interested in the Crumple Horned Snorkack, like Daddy. They're going to be the main beneficiaries of today's party, did you know that they're now the most endangered species in Sweden?"

"Er, no, no I didn't. I guess they must be though, with no one ever being able to find one. I suppose that's pretty telling."

"Well, not necessarily." Luna corrected in a matter-of-fact manner, "Nargles are very common, you can find them all over Europe. But they're very shy, so you rarely see one. It's even rarer to find one long enough to study it properly."

"Nargles?" Rolf asked, mystified, "I've never heard of them. What're they like?"

"Oh, the live in mistletoe and bushes. But especially mistletoe. They're rather sweet when you get to know them."

"You've seen some, then?"

"Oh yes. I've stayed up all night watching them at times. And I often I've collected some amazing stories from other people who like to study Nargles. The best ones are all filed away up in my room. Why don't you come and see them?" Luna's eyes were eager and bright, and Rolf felt compelled to go along with her.

Luna grabbed hold of his arm and began to drag him out of the pond. Rolf, torn between dread and interest, motioned to Blinky, who hopped on his shoulder, and together the young witch, wizard and frog made their way towards the house.

* * *

_Crikey, what was that?_ The moment Rolf had stepped into the small, circular room, his eyes stung suddenly, courtesy of five life-sized portraits beaming right at him.

"Ehh?" he mumbled, gesturing at the paintings ahead of him. Luna scurried over to the wall, explaining as she pointed to each portrait.

"These are all my friends." she waved a hand, "That's Ginny, my best friend." There was a hint of pride in her voice. "And Neville, we all helped him start up the DA again last year. And that's Harry-"

"Harry Potter." Rolf said, recognising the messy hair, the glasses and the famous scar. "You know Harry Potter?"

"Oh yes, he's very nice, you know, although he has a terrible temper. He can get very angry over the slightest things."

"Oh... okay." Rolf took a deep breath, "Can I see your Nargle articles then?"

Luna started digging around in a little wooden desk overflowing with stacks of paper, allowing Rolf to look around the room. Apart from the desk and the paintings, the other items personalizing the room were a small wardrobe, and a blue bed, matching the carpet. Sitting beside the bed was a tiny table, and perched on top, a colored, dusty photograph.

It showed a witch, long-haired, pale faced, and beaming into the camera, her arm wrapped around a small girl. Rolf stared at the two faces, and something inside of him felt a little sad, as though he was seeing a childhood that he'd lost. Bending closer to the photo, he picked it up with his large hands, smiling at the clean-cut little girl in the photo, and glancing up at the slender, dirty-haired young woman rifling through a file on her desk.

Waving a pile of parchment, Luna thrust it into his hands proudly. "Here you go, and I have some nice pictures that go with it too." Rolf grinned, quickly stepping over to the table to put the photo back.

Trouble started very quickly then.

As he bent over to replace the photo, his foot hit the table's legs, causing Rolf to trip over and catch on to the bed for support. The table and the photo fell on the floor, rolling over to Luna. Rolf's bag slid off his shoulder, spilling open and pouring books, sketch pads and drawings out onto the carpet.

"Ah... I'm so sorry..." Rolf struggled to his feet, feeling carpet burns forming on his knees. Picking himself up off the floor, he saw Luna kneeling over one of his sketchbooks. It had flipped open on falling out of the bag, displaying a two-page wide painting of a Hippogriff, landing in a wood, its wings spread out, taking up most of the page.

"Did you draw this?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's a thing of mine, I like sketching."

"It's lovely. Is the Hippogriff one of yours?"

Rolf nodded. "Her name's Demeter. One of Alfie's favorites."

"I love Hippogriffs. Don't you find it strange how people find them so imposing, yet they're actually very kind?"

"I know! People go by first impressions though." Rolf jerked his shoulders.

"It's such a shame." Luna agreed. "They actually make lovely companions."

"Tell me about it." Rolf said, and suddenly realized he was actually very much enjoying himself. "Demeter and Lazylegs and everyone. I'd say that Hippogriff and horses are probably my favorite animals. Sorry Blinks." he added, as the frog stamped its tiny feet.

"I definitely like the Crumple-Horned Snorkack the best. Me and Daddy spend so much time on it. It's Daddy's great passion." Luna's voice was bursting with pride. Rolf tilted his head, interested but with a mildly thoughtful expression on his face.

"See, I don't get that. Why narrow your search down to just one undiscovered animal? Whilst you're clawing your way through a Swedish wood looking for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, you could be missing another just as rare new animal. You focus all your time on a Snorkack, and you miss the Fidgeting Strimble right under your nose."

"A Fidgeting Strimble?" Luna's eyes were alight, "Do they exist?"

"Don't know. Just made it up. They probably do though." Rolf shrugged. Luna meanwhile, had flicked open another book, this one filled with pictures of African plains.

"Have you been to Africa?" Rolf blushed.

"No. Most of my family members have though; that's a drawing of a photograph from home."

"It's lovely."

"Thanks. I'd like to go there one day."

"I've always wanted to travel." Luna said, tracing a finger over one of Rolf's sketches; minnows streaking across a purple-blue river.

"Me too," Rolf said idly, "I wanted to when I came of age, but there was the war and everything. I couldn't really pack up and leave for Africa when Britain was in such a state."

"Did you help work against Voldemort?"

"Me?" Rolf looked surprised, and reddened slightly, staring at the floor, "It didn't hit as bad in the Scottish Isles as badly as it must have in London and all. But Alfie's still got a bunch of contacts down your end of the country. We've got a lot of space at out place. We sheltered a lot of innocent people up there. Mostly Muggle-borns and their relatives, families of wanted people, that sort of thing, you know?"

"That's very good of you."

"Not really. Not when you think what everyone suffered over here." Rolf mumbled.

"Every life is very important." Luna said simply, and picked up a book that had fallen on the floor. "_Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them._ I remember this book. I needed one for Hogwarts of course, but I had one back when I was little, a long time ago. Daddy used to read some of it to me every night."

Rolf gave a sudden smile, and took back the book when she passed it to him. "Grandad Newt used to read it to me all the time when I was a kid. Whenever he got to a bit that I liked he'd tell me about what happened when he was researching it. He had to tell the story of how he'd been trampled by a herd of Hippogriffs about a hundred times."

Luna's protuberant eyes went wide, "Newt Scamander was your grandad?" Rolf nodded sheepishly. "That's wonderful. Did you ever travel with him?"

"Nah, I was only nine when he died. I always wanted to though, whenever he told me a story about when he went to Africa I remember I'd always bounce on his knee and beg to go with him next time he went."

Luna giggled. "I used to do the same thing to Daddy when he would come home and tell me about what he'd seen in Europe. Sometimes I stayed up all night waiting for him to come home just so I could ask whether he'd seen a Heliopath."

"Grandad reckoned he saw a Heliopath once." Rolf said, not looking up, instead flicking through his book.

"Really? Where?"

"Kenya. One of his last trips. He was going a bit senile by then, but you never know. 'Sides, you have to be a bit crazy to let new things into your head, y'know?"

He sat down on her bed and began rubbing his finger over a chalk drawing of a fat frog with its tongue zipping out, stretching towards a large juicy fly. "Hm. I think the tongue doesn't look right. Hang on." His own tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, he moved his finger in long lines along the paper. Luna came and sat down beside him.

"Is that a Ukranian-Purple-Bellied?"

"Yeah. It's not one of my best. It'd help if I'd ever actually seen one of course." he laughed hesitantly, looking at Luna.

"Ukraine would be an interesting place to go. I like amphibians."

"Be good to study the dragons too. Animal I don't know much about, dragons. Ukrainian-Ironbelly be as good a place to start as any."

Luna looked up. "We should do an expedition together one day. I think we could learn a lot from each other." she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "That would be nice."

Rolf stared at her, for some reason a million threads of thought running along his brain, and suddenly dropped the book and flung out his arms.

"Well, why not? Let's do it!"

A little voice in the back of Rolf's mind was yelling at him, yelling that he couldn't do this, that it was stupid to even think of taking someone with with him, that he had not the slightest idea how to hitchhike around the world and that it was simply to ridiculous for words.

_No, _Rolf thought, _I can do this. _

And as that high, shrill voice began to fade away, he was left with a single one, and that single voice was the one speaking, the one saying, out loud;

"Why not? Let's do it."

"And why don't we try and find one of your Fidgeting Strimbles as well?"

* * *

_Hello Ginny,_

_I do hope that you and your family are very well. Have you and Harry told each other you love one another yet?_

_I'm very sorry, but I think our Nargle hunting expedition will have to be postponed for a quite a while. At Daddy's Quibbler party the other day, I met a boy named Rolf Scamander, a frog named Blinky and a horse named Lazylegs. _

_I thought he was a bit lonely, so we started talking, and it turns out he is very interested in animals. Newt Scamander was his grandfather; wouldn't that be wonderful? Being related to Newt Scamander?_

_I showed Rolf my paintings of all of you, (which I think he was very impressed with) and he showed me all the sketches he'd done at his farm in Scotland. He and his uncle train Hippogriffs and horses, sadly his father died a long time ago._

_But I have some amazing news; We decided to go on an exploration expedition together! We're going to his farm first to get me a horse (I hope it's an Abraxan; I like palominos), and after that we'll head out to our first country. I'm so excited! I think we'll go to Africa, and Egypt, and the rainforest, and hopefully even Sweden! Wouldn't it be amazing if we discovered a Crumple-Horned Snorkack together?_

_So, I'm sorry we won't be seeing each other for a long time, but I promise to write to you very often, and send you lots of pictures of my trip. I'll send some photos of Rolf to; I think he's rather cute, and Blinky seems like someone who likes having his picture taken._

_Lots and lots of love, Luna._

_PS And lots of love to Ron and Hermione and Harry and George and your mother and your father and all your other brothers._

_PPS. Is Charlie still there? Tell him that I might soon discovering some new interesting evidence about dragon evolution._

_

* * *

_

"What you smiling about, Ginny?" Harry asked as he walked into the kitchen of The Burrow, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. He headed over to the counter where she sat reading her letter, and draped both hands over her shoulders. Ginny smiled and rubbed her hand over his.

"I think," she said, turning her head over her shoulder, "Luna's found her perfect man."

* * *

**A/N; What did you think of this chapter? I was less pleased with it than I was my first, so I'd like some constructive criticism on how to make it better.**

**If anyone has any particular requests for a country and animal they want Luna and Rolf to see next, PM or leave the request in a review; I'd probably be happy to oblige (and dedicate the chapter to you).**


End file.
